Since I have 2 Rangers ...

[Bent Valve]

Hello all,

I have 2 Rangers, a 1995 2.3l single cab 2wd that I drug out of a field for $450 that I now daily to work and a 2001 4.0 extended cab 4x4 that I bought a week ago. There's "Sprout"* getting towed home. The Grand Marquis got retired, I kept hooking a trailer to it as my "truck". Now I have an actual truck.

It was supposed to be for a kid at work that needed a truck. I wound up keeping it and have slowly fixed it up. I normally hang out at grassrootsmotorsports.com and have a thread there. I kept coming to this forum for Ranger specific info, I looked at a couple and I liked this one, obviously.

So I liked it after fixing the timing belt and driving it. I kept having visions of putting 4x4 axles under it but my work commute is 60 miles round trip. So the cheapest solution was to find ANOTHER Ranger, hence "Silver". This is a few minutes after driving it home, 70 mph for 180 miles, in a high mileage Ranger. Never skipped a beat. Still has the cow manure coating from the farm.

Since I have 2 Rangers and lurk for information I decided I really should register as a forum member.


Hi!


*Since its greenish Pyro aka Beverly called it "Sprout" today to differentiate it from "Silver". Oh, and my name is Marc.

 

[superj]

Howdy! Welcome to the cool guy club

 

[Vindictus]

Welcome to TRS

 

[DrWho42]

oh hi marc!

 

[Curious Hound]

Welcome to TRS!

 

[Bent Valve]

I have 70 something photos and a sort of complete thread elsewhere. Should I re-post a condensed version on this forum in 1983-2011 Ford Ranger Mini Trucks section?

Or just start a post from where I am at?

 

[Jim Oaks]

Welcome!

 

[Bent Valve]

Life gets in the way of posting.

Sold the Green 1995 2.3 5 spd Saturday. I have been driving the Silver 2001 Extended Cab for my business for a few weeks now.

I was getting it ready and thought it needed u joints. I crawled up under it to pull the drive shaft and found a LOT of slack in the diff.

Looked around for a rear end and I couldn't find a good one. This Ranger has a Trac-Lok. So I pulled it apart.

I put Richmond Gears in and new clutches. Got a good pattern and backlash set.

It wasn't all smooth sailing, the bearings races were crazy tight. I almost broke a 5 ton puller. I had to clamp it to keep the arms from slipping as they bent from the stress.

So after break in I decided they needed testing. First it was a 1 ton and trailer rescue. I towed him to a side road where I put a fuel pump on the 7.3 so he could finish his trip.

Then I bought a cheap trailer. Its for my business and its really a bit bigger than I need but the price was right. As I stood back and looked at it after getting it home I wondered, is a cheap trailer really a good deal? 14 feet.

All the while the new gears happily spun in their fresh oil bath. They did sing a tiny bit at first but after a thousand miles or so they have quieted down. I'm heading toward 3000 miles on them and I haven't heard anything bad. The new clutches and friction modifier work nicely. In a curve on gravel if you drop the throttle they cause the rear end to step out as they lock the tires together. Not a big issue.

Out of curiosity I did lay 2 marks near the house, I kind of grin as I go by them.

 

[Lefty]

Hello all,

I have 2 Rangers, a 1995 2.3l single cab 2wd that I drug out of a field for $450 that I now daily to work and a 2001 4.0 extended cab 4x4 that I bought a week ago. There's "Sprout"* getting towed home. The Grand Marquis got retired, I kept hooking a trailer to it as my "truck". Now I have an actual truck.

View attachment 81631

It was supposed to be for a kid at work that needed a truck. I wound up keeping it and have slowly fixed it up. I normally hang out at grassrootsmotorsports.com and have a thread there. I kept coming to this forum for Ranger specific info, I looked at a couple and I liked this one, obviously.

So I liked it after fixing the timing belt and driving it. I kept having visions of putting 4x4 axles under it but my work commute is 60 miles round trip. So the cheapest solution was to find ANOTHER Ranger, hence "Silver". This is a few minutes after driving it home, 70 mph for 180 miles, in a high mileage Ranger. Never skipped a beat. Still has the cow manure coating from the farm.

View attachment 81632

Since I have 2 Rangers and lurk for information I decided I really should register as a forum member.


Hi!


*Since its greenish Pyro aka Beverly called it "Sprout" today to differentiate it from "Silver". Oh, and my name is Marc.

welcome

 

[Josh B]

Hey Marc, welcome to TRS. Looking forward to your builds. Too bad about your valve man

 

[StephenF]

Welcome. Sounds like you've had a bit of fun lately.